Armed with one of the most powerful voices in rock ‘n’ roll, killer songwriting hooks and an unbeatable stage presence, Nic Cester sold over six million albums with incendiary Melbourne world conquerors Jet.

Now, after nearly a decade of chaos and carnage fronting one of the most successful bands of the ’00s and a few quiet years off living in Berlin, Milan and Como, Nic Cester returns with Sugar Rush – his debut solo album, released Friday 3 November via Bloodlines, the new label from Melbourne’s Mushroom Group.

Sugar Rush moves at a very different pace to Jet’s seminal Get Born and consequently sits in a very different place. Across its 11 tracks, it manages to evoke miles and miles of beach soundtracked by pure bright sunlight sound of Tropicalia; Europe’s inland coastline caught in the shadow of the Rhaetian Alps; the stargazing breeziness of Air’s Moon Safari; the louche sophistication of Piero Umiliani’s Spaghetti Spy scores; the crunch and swing of Phrenology by the Roots; the glory years of Albert Productions; the discomfiting pulse of Goblin’s soundtrack recordings; the neon fizz and flicker of Little Audrey (Melbourne’s Skipping Vinegar girl); Haitian voodoo rhythms, Southern (Hemisphere) Soul and meatpacking district cocaine disco (all in one song); the intimacy of the 4am around the kitchen table and the gregarious late night bustle of a smoke filled bar in the backstreets of Milan.

Produced by Jim Abbiss (Adele, Arctic Monkeys, Queens Of The Stone Age) and recorded in Milan’s legendary Officine Mecchaniche studios and George Martin’s Air Studios in London with members of cinematic rock’n’roll band Calibro 35 (whose work has been sampled on Compton by Dr Dre and ‘Picasso Baby’ by Jay Z), Sugar Rush is a labour of love, a radical departure and a hell of a record.

“Like most of the songs on the album I was enjoying flirting with different genres and then spinning them into something else. ‘Psichebello’ is the most psychedelic track on the album and the moment that highlights the abilities of the amazing Italian musicians who I had the pleasure to record with.”

Cester will return to Sydney and Melbourne in late Oct/early Nov for two exclusive launch shows, bringing his unmissable, all-Italian live touring band – the Milano Elettrica – along with him. With recent gigs supporting Paul Weller and Kasabian, these dates will be something special.